A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey

Plot

For all those who are burned out on church or who want to be spiritual without being "religious," A New Kind of Christian offers a tale of spiritual renewal that both instructs and inspires. After many years as a church planter and pastor, author Brian McLaren has found-as more and more Christians are finding-that neither the conservative evangelical nor the liberal mainline stream of Christianity fully expresses his own developing faith. McLaren's engaging story gives voice to this emerging understanding of what it can mean to be a Christian in these dynamic times, offering a constructive vision of what a postmodern Christian might look like. A New Kind of Christian recounts a lively and intimate conversation between a pastor and his daughter's high school science teacher, in which they reflect together about faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership, and spiritual practice in the emerging postmodern world. The pastor is forced to grapple with the deeper source of his dissatisfaction with Christianity as he has understood, practiced, and taught it -his reluctance to let go of the "modern model" of Christianity. Ultimately, he comes to understand that beyond the constricted categories, cliched rhetoric, and rigid mechanisms of modern Christianity lies a new possibility: a revitalized and vibrant faith that explores and expresses the teachings and mission of Jesus in a fresh, engaging way for third-millennium people. The author reminds us that this is but the beginning of the journey, and "whatever a new kind of Christian is, no one is one yet. . . . But every transformation has to start somewhere." For all who are searching for a deeper life with God and a more honest statement of authentic Christian faith, A New Kind of Christian will open the way for an exciting spiritual adventure into new territory and new ways of believing, belonging, and becoming. Brian McLaren is the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Washington-Baltimore area and the author of two previous books on contemporary Christianity, including The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix (2000).